Almost forgot to post this week’s cartoon. Here it is.
Cone Denim, a local denim company in White Oak, is cutting a quarter of their workforce after the end of the year. The local textile industry is already hurting pretty badly, so these cuts would seem to be adding more insult to injury.
Over the past several months on many local blogs I’ve noticed comments allegedly posted by Nathan Tabor. Tabor made an unsuccessful run for the State Congress not too long ago, and is the founder of The Conservative Voice, a shrill bastion of Republicanism.
One thing these blog comments have had in common is that they all make reference to North Carolina senator Fred Smith, extolling his virtues and praising his stance on a variety of issues. The comments are usually tied in to the topic of the post, but due to the repeated fawning over Smith I get the sense that they are little more than blog spam designed to build up Smith’s name recognition. A few recent examples of these comments may be found at Hoggards, Cone’s, and TheConAlt. Many more can be found by using a Google search.
Now, there are a couple of curious things here. In September, one of these comments showed up on David Boyd’s blog. In the same thread, another commenter, also claiming to be Nathan Tabor, denied that the first comment was left by him. So it’s very possible that someone is posing as Tabor to spam blogs on Smith’s behalf.
Lending support to this possibility is a strange series of comments on a post at Melissa Westmoreland’s blog. The first is left as an anonymous comment, but contains the usual Fred Smith blather, and is signed at the end as “Nathan Tabor”. The very next comment says:
Sorry, I shouldn’t have used anonymous.
The blogger account name used to post that comment is JimKouri.
Jim Kouri is fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and a columnist for several law enforcement publications and conservative websites – including Tabor’s The Conservative Voice. Kouri himself seems rather fond of Smith, having written at least one very flattering article about him.
At the very least, we have what appears to be a Republican persistently spamming North Carolina blogs. Who is really behind it isn’t quite as clear. Are all these spam comments originating from Kouri? If so, why is he posing as Tabor, and is he doing this with Tabor’s consent?
Update: “Tabor” responds in the comments below. I’ve also found that he seems to be blog spamming on behalf of John Cox, a Texas businessman running for President.
Cara Michele has posted an excellent letter from Jesus on her blog, Chosen Fast. It’s definitely worth a read. It would be even better if Jesus had cc’d the News and Record’s Letters to the Editor department.
While we’re on the subject of the ACLU, I found this today in the comments on the News and Record’s Letters to the Editor blog – a website entitled “The ACLU Fights For Christians“. It lists and links to over two dozen instances of the ACLU “defending the right of a Christian to speak as a Christian or to practice Christianity”. I was really happy to see a list like this all in one place, since it’s something I was thinking about doing myself.
This provides even more evidence that the ACLU is not on a secular rampage, determined to wipe out Christianity or religion. It also argues against the ACLU being on any sort of liberal crusade, since in many of these cases they are actually on the side of people who espouse traditionally un-liberal viewpoints. Defense of the First Amendment should not be a partisan issue, and it’s distressing to see folks undeservedly demonize the ACLU.
A New Jersey elementary school tried to prohibit a second-grade student from performing “Awesome God” at her school talent show due to the song’s religious nature. Thankfully, a judge correctly in favor of the student.
“The First Amendment’s Establishment Clause prohibits governmental advancement or restriction of religion,” the court said. However, the circumstances of a talent show, after school, where performances were “selected, developed, practiced and performed by the individual students and without substantial interference by the school” simply could not be assumed to carry a formal message of religious endorsement from the school.
And the ACLU, with their anti-Christian crusade to eliminate all public religious expression? They filed a brief on the student’s behalf, arguing that she should have been allowed to sing the song.
(Hat tip: Ed Brayton)
I’m a little late on this, but wanted to mention it anyway. We’ve had conversations about the establishment clause before. When someone argues in favor of government officials offering sectarian prayers, or allowing religious displays of one faith to the exclusion of others, I often ask a question like “Would you feel the same if the prayers (or display) were offered to Allah, or Satan, or L. Ron Hubbard?”
I’m sure this probably seems like a mere rhetorical device to some, but a recent incident in Virginia has turned the hypothetical into the actual:
A group of Pagans in Albemarle County, Va., was recently given permission to advertise their multi-cultural holiday program to public school children – and they have the Rev. Jerry Falwell to thank for it.
The dispute started last summer when Gabriel and Joshua Rakoski, twins who attend Hollymead Elementary School, sought permission to distribute fliers about their church’s Vacation Bible School to their peers via “backpack mail.â€? …
School officials originally denied the request from the twins’ father, Ray Rakoski, citing a school policy barring “distribution of literature that is for partisan, sectarian, religious or political purposes.�
A Charlottesville weekly newspaper, The Hook, reports that Rakoski “sicced the Liberty Counsel on the county,� and the policy was soon revised to allow religious groups to use the backpack mail system. Liberty Counsel is a Religious Right legal group founded by Mathew Staver and now affiliated with Falwell.
Some local Pagans who attend Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church, a Unitarian-Universalist congregation in Charlottesville, decided to take advantage of the new forum as well. They created a one-page flier advertising a Dec. 9 event celebrating the December holidays with a Pagan twist and used the backpack system to invite the entire school community.
Now of course, while parents seemed to have no problems with flyers from Christian groups, there is suddenly an outcry over the flyer for a Pagan event. Some people are all for religion in schools and government, as long as it’s only their own religion.
It doesn’t matter if you are Christian, Muslim, Wiccan, or whatever – if you aren’t comfortable with equal access for all religious viewpoints, then you should be against the government or public schools advocating for any religion – even your own.
(The flyer in question may be seen here.)
Recently, some pages from the Japanese version of Nintendo’s safety manual for the Wii turned up on the Internet. They provide some very sage – yet often bewildering – advice for using your Nintendo Wii.
Little did anyone know, there are some hidden dangers not covered in the manual. Fortunately, today at work we discovered the missing manual pages and have posted them to Flickr. Take heed.
(Oh, and you can Digg it, if you’re into that sort of thing.)
Time.com gives some details about NASA’s plans for a moon base:
The perpetual sunshine in most of the extreme north and south means plenty of light for energy-producing solar panels; the perpetual darkness in the shadowed polar regions means a steady supply of water ice, which can be harvested for consumption …
I for one agree that harvesting water ice for consumption is a great idea.
What’s the deal lately with college students disrupting invited speakers at their colleges? First we had the Gilchrist incident at Columbia, and now this:
Protesters said they came to show their opposition to controversial Republican congressman Tom Tancredo, of Colorado, who spoke at the event. Before Tancredo arrived and while the event was being set up, protesters gathered on the fourth floor of the law college with signs that read “Ignorant Racist.”
Someone in the building set off a fire alarm twice throughout the evening. After the first alarm was pulled, a few hundred people were evacuated from the building. …
Randy McPherson, whose sign read “Where’s the wall to keep you out?” came to protest when he heard that the congressman would be speaking.
“God works in mysterious ways,” said McPherson, a food science and premedical junior, after the second fire alarm was pulled. “(Tancredo) shouldn’t be here.”
I’m all for protests if you’re against something. But to actually disrupt a speaker and prevent him from speaking, especially if he’s an invited guest at your university, is over the line. The problem isn’t so much the disrespect for the speaker, but the disrespect for the idea of free speech. Students that pull these kind of stunts are undermining their credibility and their cause.
(Hat tip: Ed Brayton)
At least two Guilford County Commissioners have expressed a desire to put their differences behind them. Last week, Melvin Alston and Paul Gibson met to discuss leadership of the board, working out the first steps towards a deal that would have Gibson as chair and Alston as vice-chair.
